U.S. makes strong opening in second round – 2011 FIVB Women’s Junior World Championship
Following the successful completion of the preliminary round of the 2011 FIVB Women’s Junior World Championship this past Sunday, July 23, the tournament entered the second round on Tuesday, July 26. Team positions were realigned in the second leg of the
tournament with regards to team performances in the previous round. Pools composition of the second round are as follows:
Pool E – United States, Peru, Italy, and Dominican Republic Pool F – Brazil, Belgium, China, and Slovakia Pool G- Japan, Cuba, South Korea, and Tunisia Pool H- Russia, Poland, Serbia, and Egypt
Pool E and F are comprised of the top-8 teams of the tournament, while Pool G and H have accommodated the bottom 8 teams.
In the first match of the Pool E in second round on Tuesday, Team USA battled out an amazing win over Dominican Republic. They posted 3-0 (25-11, 25-15, and 25-23) and bagged 3 points for winning the match in straight sets. The match was played at the Eduardo
Dibos Arena in Lima, Peru on a very humid evening. Around 4,000 spectators showed up to support their favourite teams. The volleyball scrimmage between two strong teams of the tournament continued for two hours and three minutes (with 56-minute power outage).
Top-scorer
Kelly Reeves of the United States was the real heroin of the match. She put up a valiant effort and contributed 14 points in her team’s score. She was credited for 33 attack attempts in the match. Following her footsteps, Moneshia and Haley Eckerman registered
11 and 10 points, respectively. On the other hand, Ana Binet of Dominican Republic clipped 11 points and she was the only player on her side going for double digits. Gabriela Reyes was the second highest scorer in DR Team but she scored only 5 points, while
rest of the players failed to create any buzz on court.
Match Summary
The affair started out with swift exchange of powerful serves and spikes. U.S. served with Carley Wopet and set pace for things in first set. Dominican Republic was known for good defence but they committed too many attack mistakes and suffered the set-back.
U.S. team had the best opportunity to take advantage of the opponents’ errors. Meanwhile, Kelly Reeves of USA worked out great cross court shots and put her team in an early lead of 8-5. American controlled the operations in first set, while Dominicans didn’t
stop making silly mistakes. As a result, first set slipped from their hands. U.S. team closed opening set at 25-11 with lead of 14 points.
Success in set one gave the American side a large boost. They kicked off the second set with commanding shots. Four U.S. players, Kelly Reeves, Haley Eckerman, Carly Wopat, and Haleigh Hampton added five points apiece and made it quite difficult for Dominican
Republic to comeback in the game. Dominican Republic experienced another big blow in the second set as the U.S. extended the lead by 2-0 and posted 25-15 on board.
The rhythm was set for the USA to finish the match in a third set. However, the Dominican Republic staged a great fight. The score ticked away quickly and both teams continued throwing fire-balls in each other’s halves. The third set turned out to be very
dramatic as the lights went out during the match. 56 minutes were wasted due to the power outage and it caused the third set to last for 81 minutes. In the end the U.S. team edged out their opponents by sending 25-23 on the scoreboard.
Team USA is going pretty well in the competition as they have not lost any matches as of yet. The Head Coach, Robert Browning, hopes to maintain the same momentum in the next matches and make it to the finals.
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